Elicia in Wonderland
by Suki-Itami
Summary: The year is 2000, but the story - for the most part - is still the same. With the descendants of the Liddell family trying to protect their youngest, Elicia, from going to Wonderland as Alice did, but failing, lots of trouble can happen.
1. New Years Surprise

**A/N: There are only three original characters from the book in this story. The White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, and the Cheshire Cat. Everyone else are the descendants of the characters. They will be introduced as the story progresses.**

…

_Jan. 1__st__, 2000: 12:00 A.M._

_It is the new millennium and a new year. From my room on the second floor, I can hear my family's celebration as they drink red wine and talk in a drunken matter. I don't understand the New Year celebrations one bit. Being fifteen, I suppose I should understand it, but alas, I don't. To me, New Years day is just another day. The only thing special about the holiday is that my older sisters Megan and Amanda come home from college. I suppose that's a good enough reason to like the holiday._

_But, even though my sisters do come home for vacation, I find New Years to be a frivolous thing – I always have. The one thing I can look forward to on the night/early morning of New Years is the reading of "Alice in Wonderland". Mother always reads that story to my sisters and me. Though they grew tired of the story at a young age, I love it. It could be that since a young age, I was compared to Alice Liddell because of my spirit and because of my last name: Liddell. (My sisters were always compared to Mabel and Ada for never being around, which is probably why they dislike the story.)_

_Oh, mother is calling for me. It must be time to read the story. I shall return to write more after she is done._

_Elicia Liddell_

…

Elicia closed her journal as she finally finished writing her entry for the night. The story of "_Alice in Wonderland_" always made her happy, for she smiled as she fell on her back on the soft bed. Her long light blonde hair spread out on the soft down pillow she laid on.

"Soon, I'll go on an adventure of my own, to my own 'wonderland'." She smiled up at the white ceiling as she continued, "Maybe to Paris or Rome or maybe even Beijing!"

She giggled as she turned on her side to look at her own copy of "_Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass_". Elicia had read the book thousands of times, and had all but memorized it word-for-word. The character's names going through her head as she listed off people in her life that could be each character. Only Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat she couldn't compare anyone to. They were her favorite characters, and she felt that no one could possibly match up to them. No, never.

She looked up as the door to her room opened and her sister, Megan, walked in. "Hey, Megan." Elicia smiled.

Megan nodded and sat down at the end of the bed, at her younger sister's feet. She, being twenty-three and long out of the house, felt obligated to interrupt her sister's thoughts after every single time they heard or read about Alice Liddell's adventures. "Elicia, sister, what are you thinking about, up here, all alone?"

Elicia continued to smile as she sat up, slightly rumpling the pants of her night attire – which was a white tank top and dark blue night pants. "The story. About the characters, about Alice's thoughts as she wandered through Wonderland."

"I see." Her sister sudden got a very grave look on her face, one that said she knew something, but would never say. "I will have to ask mother about this, but, I think it would be wise to stay inside for the rest of the day today."

"Is the weatherman calling for rain?" Elicia cocked her head to the side as confusion and wonder lit up her blue eyes.

"No." Megan stood up and looked at her younger sister once more. "I will warn you, do not go outside…or you may know just why mother has been home schooling you this whole time." With that, she turned and walked out of the room.

Elicia laid back down on her pillow, her thoughts trying to piece together what her sister had said. Ever since she turned seven-and-a-half, (she laughed a bit as she remembered that being Alice's age in the story), her mother had home schooled her. She had a few friends from the first two years of her public schooling – the only two years of her public schooling – that she saw every now and again, and they also loved the story of Alice. When they had been children – not that they weren't, but they aren't as imaginative – they often imagined they were in the story of "_Alice in Wonderland_". Elicia always played Alice, while her friends shared roles among each other. It's not that she hogged the role or anything, but her friends had always insisted though she had wanted to play Mad Hatter or the Cheshire Cat a few times.

Now, though, that they are all fifteen- or sixteen-years-old, they rarely even think to imagine being in that world. Well, all except Elicia. She loved the world of Wonderland, and the thought of slipping through a looking-glass to a different world. Her mind was always filled such thoughts, her imagination always wandering, that she sometimes thought it was a wonder her parents didn't send her to an asylum when she turned thirteen. Being fifteen, her parents had often expressed that she ought to stop acting like a child and more like a young adult. Though she knew it was how she should act, Elicia didn't want to. She wanted to be a child forever; she wanted to continue to believe in Wonderland and all of the characters in it.

"Elicia." Amanda leaned against the doorframe and stared at her dazed younger sister – which actually brought her out of the daze. "Mother and father said that you are not to go outside today. You may invite your friends over, but they want you inside, and they want you to not talk anymore of the story of Alice Liddell."

"Why?!" Elicia sat up, slightly enraged at this.

"You're a young woman. You shouldn't be stuck on fantasy stories like that for this long."

"Why's that matter? Every other book I've read said that an imagination's good for the brain!"

Her sister sighed. "I understand that you don't quite get it, because we never told you…and it's a good thing we didn't." With that, she turned and left.

Elicia laid back down on her pillow once again, her mind trying to make sense of what Amanda had told her. None of it made sense, so she crawled under her blankets and drifted to sleep.

…

Elicia woke up the next morning about six hours after she drifted to sleep. It was only seven in the morning, and everyone else was still sound asleep.

She jumped out of her bed, stretched and walked downstairs and right outside. By the time she had realized she was outside, she was in front of the willow tree that stood proudly in the middle of the backyard. Elicia looked around to make sure no one had seen her, and turned around to go back inside. She was surprised that she had even disobeyed an order from her parents to begin with, she never did.

"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!"

Elicia spun around as she heard the familiar words and saw a white rabbit, (_No, not just any white rabbit, __**the**__ White Rabbit._ She thought excitedly.), stuff a pocket watch back into the coat pocket of his red vest and run into a rabbit hole at the base of the willow tree. Though she knew the story, and knew that if it were the really the White Rabbit that she was thinking of, she'd end up going down a rabbit hole into the world of Wonderland, she still followed the rabbit down.

She crawled and crawled in the dirty, dismal dark of the rabbit hole. After nearly a half-hour – far longer that it took Alice Liddell to fall down the hole – she thought of turning around. As she started thinking of how she was going to turn around, she slipped into a hole and began to fall. Though she felt scared, at the same time, Elicia was excited. She began to pray that this wasn't some sort of dream inspired by her want for this all to happen.

The fall was as long and boring as described in the story. Soon enough, Elicia passed the jar labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE". She didn't bother to pluck it off the shelf for she knew that it would be perfectly empty. After at least ten minutes more, she started humming old AC/DC songs to herself to pass the time.

It must have been an hour later that she finally slowed down, flipped her body to land on her feet, and landed on solid ground – while she was humming "Highway to Hell". Elicia looked around and saw another dark passage, which the White Rabbit was hopping down as he was saying to himself:

"Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!"

She continued smiling and ran after him down the long hallway. Though she had lost him, it didn't matter, for she came on a small hall with a row of lamps on the ceiling and doors lining the walls. In the middle of the room sat a three-legged glass table with a small gold key on it. She looked around, knowing the key didn't belong to the large doors, but to a small door hidden behind a curtain if she was really where she hoped she was. Sure enough, there was a low curtain that revealed a small door about fifteen inches high behind it.

Elicia hid her eyes in her left hand and started laughing, "Yes, this is definitely Wonderland. What a wonderful way to start the new millennium!"


	2. Drink Me

Elicia, curious to see if there really, truly was a beautiful garden beyond the small door, grabbed the gold key and unlocked it. She lay down on her side and looked through the door – more like a large mouse hole than anything – to see a beautiful garden with plenty bright flowers, and cool fountains spurting water into the air.

She sighed and sat up on her knees. How she wanted to get through the door and into the garden! But, she knew the story, and understood that it wasn't going to be so easy.

Elicia stood up and turned back to the glass table to find a jar with a blank purple label around its middle and a small slip of paper tied around the neck with the words "DRINK ME" in big, elegant script. She picked up the jar and looked at it, saying to herself:

"This isn't quite what it was like in the story, but I guess it works." She sighed and looked over the jar just as Alice had done with the bottle. She couldn't believe she was looking it over, she knew what it was going to do, after all. "Bottoms up!"

Elicia drank the potion in the jar rather quickly, finding the taste to be less than inviting. It had been exactly as described, (the taste of cherry-tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast all into one putrid flavor), and she hadn't liked it one bit. Regardless of this disgusting taste in her mouth, her face brightened as she shrank to a mere ten inches, the same size Alice had been in the story as she tried…to…get…through…

"Dammit!" Elicia looked up as she cursed and saw the small gold key was back on the glass table. "How could I have forgotten that?! That's the one basic thing of the story I **shouldn't **have forgotten!"

She sighed and plopped down on her butt to try and figure out what she was going to do about getting the key. There was no way she was going to attempt climbing the legs of the table, that would take too much energy and time. Finally, she remembered what Alice had to do and looked over to see a cake with the words "EAT ME" on a slip of paper attached to the plate it was sitting on. Elicia almost ate the cake, but remembered she'd be all disproportionate and just waste more time. So, instead, she stayed on her butt under the glass table until the White Rabbit came running by her again.

"Oh!" He yelled to himself as he ran past, not even noticing as he dropped his fan and white kids gloves. "The Duke, the Duke! Oh! Won't he be savage if I've kept him waiting!"

Elicia stood up and quietly followed the rabbit down another hallway. She ignored the fan and kids gloves, not wanting to shrink in size anymore than she had. _A Duke? The story had a Duchess in it. Maybe…maybe the Duchess was married and it never said. Yes, that has to be it! There's no other explanation!_

After a while she sat down in the hall, having lost sight of the White Rabbit minutes ago. She cursed herself for being too slow as she stared up into the darkness and tried to see the ceiling that she knew was too high up for her to see at her current size. As she sat there, a Mouse walked by and stared at her with large black, curious eyes. Elicia looked at the Mouse with a large smile, and told it to join her on the floor.

The Mouse nodded and sat down next to her, still staring at her. "Who are you?" It had the high-pitched voice of a woman, but Elicia couldn't be sure. "You don't seem familiar."

Elicia continued smiling, not sure if this was the Mouse from the story or another Mouse. "My name is Elicia Liddell. What shall I call you?"

"Mouse is fine, young one."

"Okay then."

"Liddell is your surname?"

"Yes. Is that name familiar to you?"

"It is familiar to all here." Mouse looked away from Elicia and down the hall as a Duck, Dodo, Eaglet, Lorry, and several other animals came from the direction she was looking. "You may ask them as well, but I highly doubt there is one here who does not recognize the surname Liddell."

"Why is that?"

Mouse looked back over at her companion. "Does no one know your surname where you come from?"

"Yeah, they do, but from a story by a writer who was high at the time he wrote it." Elicia said with her voice never rising above a mumble.

"Well then. I don't know this 'story' you speak of, but this land was once visited by a young child with the last name Liddell." Mouse laughed a bit. "But, I shall explain that later, as it is a fable passed down in all families of our land."

The Duck plopped down in front of Elicia and stared at her as its feet got hidden in its under-feathers. "Who is this, Mouse?" The Duck – obviously a male – looked over at Mouse as he said this.

"This is Elicia Liddell." Mouse said rather excitedly. "She visits us from where her ancestor once did. Another world."

Elicia became confused and rubbed her temples as she felt a migraine coming on. She didn't remember any of this, and was for certain that it wasn't in the story whatsoever. Nothing of ancestors had ever been mentioned in the story at all. It was simply about Alice and her adventures as she encountered different things – these animals being some of the few things she encountered – and people.

"Liddell, hmm?" An Owl perched itself directly next to Elicia and stared at her with huge brown eyes. "Interesting…"

Elicia cringed back against the wall when the animals became too close as their intrigue of her grew. She pushed through them and leaned against the wall across the hall, trying to catch her breath. She was slightly claustrophobic, so being that enclosed had freaked her out a bit and she had lost her breath.

She looked over at the animals, who all seemed slightly offended. "I'm sorry about that, but I'm claustrophobic. I can't stand being in a small space, it makes me nervous and scared. I lose my breath and all my wits when I get in an enclosed space."

The animals didn't understand a word of it, but had all started yelling that her explanation had been an excuse for rejecting their "hospitality". Suddenly, they all ran off down the two directions in the hall. Once they were all gone, Elicia slid down against the wall and sat down again, her breath still slightly gone.

After several minutes, she stood up again and dusted off her tank top and pants – which had reminded her that she hadn't changed since getting up that morning. (_Oh well, at least my hair's halfway presentable._ She thought as she fixed her ponytail.)

She looked back up the way of the hall she had been heading when she had run into Mouse as she heard foots pattering back up the hall. She sighed as the White Rabbit went speeding past her while yelling to himself:

"The Duke! The Duke! Oh my fur and whiskers! He'll get me executed as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where **can** I have dropped them, I wonder?" He stopped a few feet to Elicia's right as he began inspecting the floor around him.

She ignored him and didn't bother looking around. She knew that if she did, she'd be sent to White Rabbit's house to get him a new pair, which was something she didn't—

"Why, Mary Ann, what **are** you doing out here?" He asked in a slightly demanding tone as he spotted Elicia sitting against the wall. "Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!"

She sighed and stood up, walking towards the direction that she was sure would lead her to his house. _I knew that I should've walked away when that rabbit came running down the hall. This is the one part of the story I detest._

Though Elicia had told herself she hated this part of the story, she smiled once the house with the rusted brass plate with "W. RABBIT" engraved on the door came into sight. She ended up running into the house with the biggest smile she's ever had implanted on her face. Regardless of her chore – which only had happened because she was mistaken for the hired help – she ran around the house and explored. All at once, Elicia had forgotten that she needed to find the gloves and fan for the White Rabbit so that he could find this "Duke" person that she had no idea existed until earlier.

After a few minutes, she became bored and started walking out of the house all the while talking to herself about how nice the cottage was considering a rabbit lived there. While she was walking out the front door, she saw and heard the White Rabbit coming towards his home.

"Mary Ann! Mary Ann!" He called as Elicia turned back into the house. "Fetch me my gloves this moment!"

She started looking around instantly, finally finding them where they had been in the story – in the White Rabbit's room. She reached for the fan and kids gloves at first, but saw a bottle which the words "DRINK ME" written in same elegant script from before on its label. Elicia considered drinking it, knowing that it would keep the White Rabbit from scolding her – not that she was afraid of getting scolded, she just didn't like it. Instead, as she heard the rabbit walk through the door, she jumped out of the window and ran into the nearby forest.

For the longest time, she looked for the large puppy that she thought would be there but found nothing. She only ended up walked up to a large pink Caterpillar with its many arms folded; only one pair – the top pair – was not folded to help it smoke the cigarette in its mouth. The only thing that seemed even remotely familiar to her about this scene was that the caterpillar was on top of a mushroom.

"A pink caterpillar with a cigarette?" Elicia asked herself, knowing that she was far enough away that the caterpillar wouldn't hear her. "I thought the caterpillar was blue with a hookah." After a moment to let that change sink in, she walked forward.

The pink Caterpillar looked down at Elicia as she approached. "Hello there." The Caterpillar – the voice was a dead give away at it being a girl (_I thought the Caterpillar was a boy!_ She thought with yet another migraine coming on) – said as it removed the cigarette from its mouth.

"Hi." Elicia bowed her head, ignoring the throbbing pain that began there as she did so.

"Who're you?"

Elicia sighed quietly, praying that this wasn't going to happen every time she met someone/something. "Elicia Liddell."

The Caterpillar bowed her head slightly. "A pleasure to meet you, Elicia." She unfolded another pair of her arms and pointed to two halves of the mushroom she was sitting on. "I was told to give anyone with the last name Liddell these instructions as they passed through if they ever came. Pluck off a piece of mushroom from each half so that it may help you later on."

"I will be sure to do that."

With that being said, the Caterpillar turned and walked –which Elicia was glad that at least that made some sense – further into the forest.

Elicia walked up to the mushroom and grabbed a handful of it in each hand before stuffing it into the respective pockets of her night pants – which she was thankful were deep. She knew better than to eat a piece already, she really didn't want to waste time growing and shrinking as Alice had.

Instead, she walked on and on in the forest until she came to an open field with house four feet high in the middle of it. She sighed and nibbled at the mushroom bit out of her right-hand pocket until she was nine inches high, afraid to be higher than Alice had been in the story upon entering this house.


	3. The Duke and the Cheshire Cat

"_Oh, you can't help that, we're all mad here."_

~Cheshire Cat

…

Elicia stood at her spot at the edge of the forest, waiting for the fish footman to arrive. She stood there for several minutes before a deer footman came along with a large letter almost his size.

_Is everything in this Wonderland different than the one in the book? _She thought as the footman explained to a sheep footman that the letter was an invitation for the Duke from the Queen and the Princess to play croquet. _A…Princess too…?_

Both the footman bowed low, being sure to not get the sheep's fur entangled in the deer's antlers. The deer footman then left without another word. As soon as the deer footman was out of sight, Elicia walked out of her hiding place behind a bush and walked up to the sheep footman, now resting next to the door. She considered knocking on the door because she thought the footman was asleep, but the moment she raised up her fist to knock, the footman said:

"There's no point in doing tha-a-a-at." The sheep footman looked up at Elicia, who had tensed quite considerably since hearing his voice. "I'm out here. Besides, with the ra-a-a-acket they're ma-a-a-aking in there, they wouldn't hear you."

"What racket?" She asked, tilted her head to the side in confusion. She knew in the book, the Duchess had been angry with her cook and her baby, but she couldn't think of a reason if there was a Duke.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing noise quickly followed by a baby's wailing and even louder screaming. Elicia stared at the door, considering skipping the house and trying to find her way to Mad Hatter's place.

"You ma-a-a-ay go inside, you know." The sheep footman said suddenly.

"How am I to get in?" She asked, immediately regretting asking as she remembered the short conversation Alice had had with the frog footman.

"However you like." He said with a sigh. ("Was it a sigh or a bleating noise?" Elicia muttered to herself, trying to decide.)

She nodded to the footman and pushed the door open. Immediately she saw the Duke. A tall, lean, man with a face that reminded her nothing of the Duchess from the story. His face was pale like alabaster without a single wrinkle or blemish staining it. His clothes reflected his station in this world, as he was wearing a midnight blue tuxedo that brought out the perfect metallic silver of his eyes. Elicia blushed a little as she took in his regal appearance.

"What's wrong with you?" The Duke asked harshly as he saw her red face. He didn't even bother standing up from his high backed chair to try and get the child – which Elicia assumed was his – to calm down. "Are you sick? If you are, get out!"

She took a breath to calm herself down as the blush left her face and anger replaced it. "I am not sick! I was just…getting used to the sudden regal appearance of someone."

The Duke laughed hardily. "Very good then, I accept your apology for staring at me."

_If he considers __**that**__ an apology, I'll let him think it._ She giggled as she thought that last remark she would never have said to this guy. "Excuse me, but your child is crying. Don't you think you should calm it down?"

"Why?"

"It just doesn't seem very happy."

The Duke shrugged, nearly allowing the baby to tumble out of his arms with the gesture. "Is a baby ever truly happy? It must wait until it can comprehend feelings before it can truly be happy. Until then, it can cry all it wants because it will never be happy, no matter what you do."

"That's a horrible thing to think about a baby!" Elicia said a bit more forcefully than originally intended.

"Regardless, it's still true."

She growled until she saw the purple and pink cat smiling widely at her. Upon seeing the cat, she herself smiled. "The Cheshire Cat!" She whispered to herself. She honestly had not expected to see him in this sideways Wonderland.

The Duke looked over at the Cheshire Cat and then back over at her. "Of course it is! What other cat smiles in that matter? It's been in my family for generations!"

"Generations?" Elicia thought about it for a moment, remembering what Mouse had said to her and about how the pink caterpillar had been told to give instructions to a Liddell if they ever passed through. "How many generations?"

"Since the late eighteen-sixties I'd say."

"No way!" She said with her mouth wide open. _So that's why everything's sideways here! It's been over one thousand years since the original story!_

The Duke laughed. "Yes, it's true." He set the baby down on the ground in front of him and stood up, stepping over it. "The first in my family to own him was my great-great-great-great-great grandmother, the Duchess. I am merely a descendant of her. I have been rude to you, what is your name?"

"Elicia Liddell." She said, never taking her eyes off of the Cheshire Cat.

"Liddell?! Oh, forgive me! I should have been kinder; your ancestor did save mine from being beheaded by the Queen of Hearts. For that, I thank you." He bowed low enough to make Elicia wonder who was the one being disrespectful the entire time.

"Um…it was…nothing on her part." She said nervously. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really have somewhere to be."

She turned and opened the door, ready to make a quick exit when he grabbed onto her arm, begging her to allow him to escort her to her destination as a reprieve for being rude. She kindly told him that it was all right and that she forgave him, and left into the woods that she believe Alice had gone to find Mad Hatter.

As Elicia was thinking of how to go about finding the way to what was probably Mad Hatter's descendants house, the Cheshire Cat faded onto a tree branch in front of her.

"Hello there." It said with a voice that should've scared her to death, but considering she was in an ecstasy from finally meeting one of her favorite characters, she didn't care.

"Hi!" She said with a smile that could rival the cat's own. "I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction, Cheshire Cat."

"Of course. But which way are you going?" The Cheshire Cat asked with a small laugh added at the end.

"The way of the Mad Hatter and the Mad Hare."

The cat laughed again and said, "Yes, you know about your ancestor, Alice Liddell then."

"I know almost every word of the story!"

"Well, then, I guess it's my obligation to tell you that the descendants of the person and animal Alice met are the ones that you will find ahead. There are few of those whom Alice met that are left."

"Who are they? I know there is you and the White Rabbit, but who else is there?"

"You will meet them in due time." The Cheshire Cat pointed down in the direction Elicia had been traveling. "Go that way. When you come to a fork in the road, I will show you where to go next." It faded away into the darkness, its smile lingering on the air a bit longer than the rest of it.

She giggled for a moment, allowing her meeting with the Cheshire Cat to sink in. After that moment had past, she continued walking in the direction she had been told to go. Walking through all the vegetation that had gathered since Alice's visit had been a pain for her, but she eventually came to the fork in the road that the Cheshire Cat said he'd be at.

As she approached the tree at the fork, the Cheshire Cat appeared with the same huge grin on his face. "It's good to see you again."

"And to see you." Elicia said, smiling still.

The Cheshire Cat waved its right paw towards one direction. "That way lives the descendant of Mad Hatter."

"Then that's—"

"But, she's at the house of the descendant of the March Hare." It waved its other paw in the opposite direction.

She sighed, really not wanting to go to the March Hare's house, but really wanted to meet the descendant of her other favorite character. She nodded her thanks and walked in the direction of the Mad Hare. She was only about ten feet down the strip of dirt road when the Cheshire Cat appeared again.

"Out of curiosity, are you playing croquet with the Queen and Princess?" It asked.

"I've never played, but it sounds like fun." Elicia shrugged.

"Right then. I must warn you, the descendant of the March Hare is not what you're expecting."

"What should I be expecting then, if not a rabbit?"

"Well, lets just say that she's a bit more…human than would be expected." With that, the Cheshire Cat faded away slowly from tail to always-creepy smile.

She sighed and shook her head, trying to comprehend what the Cheshire Cat could've meant, but eventually just continued walking. Though the entire walk to the house of the descendant of the March Hare – which looked exactly as it had in the story, with rabbit ear shaped chimneys and a roof thatched with white fur – she was wondering exactly how a rabbit could be more human than expected.

Elicia stopped in front of the huge house, and took a breath before nibbling on more of the mushroom piece in her right hand until she was two-foot, three-inches. Though it was a bit taller than Alice had been, she deemed her height close enough and walked through the door of the March Hare's house.


	4. The March Bunny and Mad Hatter Maiden

A big white, fluffy bunny tail in the face isn't exactly desired or expected when one opens the door to a house, but that's exactly what Elicia got when she entered the house of the descendant of the March Hare. She yelped and jumped back away from the fluffy bunny tail.

"Oh my, we have a visitor." A girl's inquisitive yet excited voice said from somewhere beyond the bunny tail.

The person, (_The heck?! It's a…a…a…human girl?!_ Elicia screamed inside her head), attached to the bunny tail straightened up with a plate of chocolate cake on it. The bunny ears on top of her head perked up and she turned around rather quickly. "Oh, yes, yes, a cute full-human girl!"

Elicia, who had fallen on the ground when she jumped backward, looked up at the messy blonde-haired half-bunny girl who wore nothing but a bright red leotard and some white fur around her wrists and ankles that made her look like she belonged in the Playboy Mansion. And the Playboy Mansion was exactly where Elicia had begun to think she stepped into until another girl walked into eyesight.

"You really mustn't startle the guests like that." She sighed, resting her alabaster pale face into her equally as pale hand. "I'll never get any hats sold at this rate. My ancestors in the afterlife will be quite disappointed."

Elicia managed to divert her eyes to the new girl and first noticed the long silver hair with a slight red tint, then the obsidian eyes. It was only after she noticed this did she see the small top hat attached to the top of the girl's head with a headband-like ribbon. A small fake red rose was glued to the rim of the hat next to a silver and black ribbon that flowed from the front edge of the rim. She also wore a short, low cut black dress that tied up the front until the bottom of the neckline with silver string, black ribbon tied around her wrists, and a black rose choker that tied with a black ribbon in the back around her neck. Her shoes were black ballet shoes that laced up to the middle of her shins with more black ribbon.

The woman looked over at Elicia. "Hello, you are?"

The bunny girl spoke before Elicia could get a word out; she stood on her tiptoes and faced the girl with the hat. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest and begun to shake her hips back and forth. "I'm March Bunny, you should know that…!" She said in a whiny voice.

The woman in the hat sighed at March Bunny. "I know who **you** are. I was talking to our guest."

Elicia stood up and walked over to the woman with her hand held out. "I'm Elicia."

The woman nodded but didn't take Elicia's hand. "I am Mad Hatter Maiden. It's nice to meet you, Elicia."

Elicia dropped her hand next to her side, but it was soon grasped and violently shaken by March Bunny. "I'm March Bunny! It's good to meet you, Elicia! It's always good to meet someone new!" She smiled at Elicia but soon diverted her light green eyes over to the dormouse sleeping at the long table that took up the space they were in. "Oh, that dormouse is so rude!"

Mad Hatter Maiden chuckled a few times before looking over at the seats around the dormouse. "Would you please join us?"

Elicia somehow managed to pull her hand away from the overenthusiastic half-bunny girl and said, "Yes, that would be great."

March Bunny and Mad Hatter Maiden both took their respectful positions on either side of the still sleeping dormouse as Elicia sat across from the trio. For several minutes, there was no sound but the three girls eating the food around them and the dormouse's snoring, until Mad Hatter Maiden said:

"Your hair needs cutting. It has split ends that are bothering me." She said softly as she took a drink out of a teacup full of tea.

Elicia sighed in order to hide the anger over that rude comment. "I'm sorry I don't have enough time in my day to get my hair cut."

"I think it looks pretty!" March Bunny chimed in enthusiastically. "So beautiful and shiny! Nothing like mine!"

Elicia smiled at the bunny girl. "Thank you."

Mad Hatter Maiden sighed, obviously holding back a comment of her own. Instead, she asked Elicia, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

"That's simple, it's because…uh…uh…uh…" Elicia stopped with her mouth half-open. _Oh crap! I have the original version of the book; there was no answer! Wait, that's it! _"There is no answer. It's a dead-end riddle."

"Wrong." Mad Hatter Maiden said with a smile that yelled triumph. "The answer is…because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front." (A/N: I don't know if the original version of _Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass _has the preface that has the answer to the riddle, but the "Barnes & Noble" Classic version does. That's where I got the answer.)

"Oh…" Elicia bit her bottom lip, trying to make sense of it in her mind for a moment. She smiled brightly and looked up at Mad Hatter Maiden when she understood it. "That's brilliant!"

Mad Hatter Maiden giggled and rested her elbow on the dormouse's head, her head rested in her hand. "Yes, yes it is! You know, for generations my family couldn't come up with an answer to that same riddle, but **I** did!"

"Yeah, yeah, congrats…" March Bunny sighed and stirred around a small spoon in her tea. "You always tell that same, stupid riddle whenever we have a guest. It's getting quite old."

"Yeah, well, so is your perky, perky attitude." The other woman sighed.

"My perky attitude is what keeps you from going mad!" The bunny girl fired back.

Mad Hatter Maiden laughed so hard that she almost fell out of the chair. "News flash, honey, I've already gone mad!" She stopped laughing and smirked evilly, eyeing the pale scar that ran down March bunny's left cheek. "Or do I really have to remind you?"

Elicia saw this going in a bad direction and said, "Why don't we wake up the dormouse and have him tell a story?"

March Bunny and Mad Hatter Maiden suddenly both smiled overenthusiastically and simultaneously pinched the dormouse in the sides while yelling, "Good idea!"

The dormouse jumped into the air, startled by the rude awakening, and took a moment to come to terms with his surroundings before yelling, "What?!"

Mad Hatter Maiden clapped her hands in front of her face as if about to go into prayer. "Tell us a story!"

"Yeah, tell us a story!" March Bunny giggled.

"Yeah!" Elicia agreed.

The dormouse looked over at Elicia when he heard her voice. He tilted his head to the side and said, "Say, do I know you?" (A/N: I decided to keep the same dormouse from the book as well.)

"Huh?" Elicia looked at him like he was crazy. She'd never been here before, so how could he know her…? "I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else. I've never been here before."

"Hmm…" The dormouse got up on the table and got right into Elicia's face. "Yes, you look so familiar to me. Of course, it's as if I haven't seen your face for decades."

"Decades?" March Bunny laughed once. "Dormouse, we're not immortal like you are. We're terribly mortal, even Elicia here is. She's clearly human. Nothing like you."

"It's inconceivable that she's someone you knew decades ago." Mad Hatter Maiden added after taking another drink of her tea. "Besides, look at how young she is. You can even tell her soul is young just by the way she acts. There's no way—"

"No, she's not the **same** person!" Dormouse huffed. "She just looks like her! Like…oh…what was that girl's surname?"

Elicia thought about the story for a moment before asking, "Are you thinking of Alice Liddell?"

"Yes!" Dormouse said, facing Elicia again. "You look almost identical to the Liddell girl!"

"Really?!" March bunny stood up and leaned over the table to look at Elicia. "Wow, that's so cool! I never **looked** before!"

Mad Hatter Maiden also leaned over the table. "March Bunny, we don't even know what the Liddell girl looked like. There were no pictures or paintings of her while she was here."

March Bunny blushed a bit at her own foolishness. "But I'm sure—"

"This girl is pretty close." Dormouse finished. "What's your name – your **full** name?"

"My full name is Elicia Marguerite Liddell." Elicia said with an added sigh. "Why does that—"

"Liddell?!" All three of the hosts exclaimed at the same time.

Elicia cringed back at the reaction of her for what could've been the thousandth time that day. "Y-Yes!"

"I'm so sorry!" Mad Hatter Maiden stood up on the table and curtsied. "We have been terribly rude!"

"Yes, yes, we have!" March Bunny agreed as she stood up on the table and bowed, seeing as she didn't have a dress or skirt to curtsey.

Elicia laughed nervously. "I-It's quite okay. I get worse back at home."

Mad Hatter Maiden straightened and jumped off the table, beside Elicia. "Dormouse, apologize for your rudeness!"

March Bunny also straightened and jumped off the table on the other side of Elicia. "Yes, apologize!"

Dormouse sighed and shook his head. "She said it's alright. Apparently, she's used it."

"Dormouse!" Mad Hatter Maiden and March Bunny both grabbed Dormouse's legs and tried stuffed him into a pot full of tea. "This should teach you to be less rude to our guests!"

"No, really, it's okay." Elicia said hesitantly. Neither of the girls seemed to hear her and continued trying to shove Dormouse into the tea pot, screaming to him to be more polite.

She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to just continue sitting there, and ran out the door as quickly as possible without looking back. She stopped two minutes later, seeing as she was back in the same hallway with the doors. Elicia sighed in relief, happy that she seemed to have lost the incredibly mad, ("No, March Bunny was mad," Elicia corrected her thought, "but Mad Hatter Maiden was insane…and a little bipolar."), descendants of the March Hare and Mad Hatter.

She smiled when she saw the little gold key still sitting on the glass table. She nibbled a bit more of the mushroom in her right hand until she was her original height. She grabbed the key, opened the door, and then nibbled on the mushroom in her left hand until she was the appropriate size before walking into the beautiful gardens.


	5. The Princess of Hearts and Spades

Yeah, I know it took me a while to update, but here ya go! Good writing (though I don't know if I'd call this that) cannot be rushed.

…

Elicia tried to walk past the rosebushes the guards were painting, only to be stopped when they saw her and asked who she was.

"Elicia." She replied flatly. She had ultimately decided since meeting Mad Hatter Maiden and March Bunny that she'd keep her surname a secret unless it was crucial.

"Why are you here? Are you playing croquet with the Queen and the Princess?" The Five of spades asked curiously.

"Um… Yes, I suppose I am."

The Two of spades smiled. "You have fun then little one. And please do not tell the Queen of the state of her rosebushes. After all these years, they still are not permanently red." He mumbled that last sentence to himself.

"I understand." Elicia smiled back. "I promise not to say a thing."

"Thank you, Eli—"

"The Queen! And the Princess!" The Three of spades yelled suddenly.

All three of cards of spades immediately bowed low at the sight of the extremely old woman, (_It's like her skin is barely attached. What a sight it would be to see it fall off! _Elicia thought), marching alone, a teenage girl following her.

Said teenage girl had long black hair bound in two pigtails at the top of her head, pasty pale skin, the thin lips of a young child, and eerie, narrow cat-green eyes. She wore a low cut long sleeved light red dress that perfectly accented her thin figure, the ends of the sleeves of her dress flared out to allow plenty of wrist movement. The end of the dress cut off in the middle of her thighs. Her legs were pasty pale, and the black fishnet tights she wore wasn't helping the fact that she looked sick. On her feet were sparkly black ballet flats.

Elicia looked down at her feet when she saw the girl wearing the ballet flats, and realized that she was wearing her pink bunny slippers. She sighed and hung her head, not being able to believe that she'd been wearing her slippers the entire time.

The old woman stopped in front of Elicia and shouted, "Why aren't you kneeling before me, commoner?!"

_Yep, she's the Queen of Hearts, no doubt there. _Elicia bowed slightly. "Forgive me, milady, I was in shock from seeing you and the girl."

The Queen of Hearts scowled at Elicia. "That 'girl' is my daughter! The Princess of Hearts!"

The Princess giggled an eerily haunting laugh. "You tend not to address me properly, mother. How come someone know who I am if you insist on not completely introducing me?" She took Elicia's hand and shook it, her hand freezing cold against Elicia's skin. "I am the Princess of Hearts **and **Spades. It's nice to meet you."

Elicia straightened her position. "It's nice to meet you as well. My name is Elicia."

The Princess looked at her as if she knew her and nodded once. "Very well, then, Elicia. Mother, may you spare Elicia your sentencing for not acknowledging you? She is dear old friend of mine whom I haven't seen since father's passing."

"Really? Is that so?" The Queen of Hearts asked with a defiant tone.

"Yes." The Princess smiled back at her mother. "We will join you shortly to play croquet, I promise."

"Very well then. Be back soon."

"We will." The Princess gripped Elicia's hand and led her away from the area they were at to a beach looking place. By the time they stopped walking, they were at the edge of the sea/ocean where the waves were lapping at their feet.

After a moment of almost awkward silence, Elicia said, "Princess, I need to know something."

"What?" The Princess did not avert her gaze from the horizon.

"Why did you save me from the Queen of Hearts?"

"Simple." She looked over at Elicia. "Do not think word of who you are hasn't gotten around, Elicia Liddell."

"How did you—"

"An any sixteen-year-old does, I love a good juicy bit of gossip. The last thing I expected to hear when I spoke to my friends earlier today was that the descendant of Alice Liddell was in Wonderland. When I heard, I figured I'd run into you sooner or later. I wanted to talk to you, it's like that."

"I understand. I have another question, though."

"Go for it."

"Your full title is the Princess of Hearts and Spades. Why is that?"

"Ah, so you noticed."

"You introduced yourself as such."

"Most don't notice the last two words. It's strange to be asked about it."

The next few moments were filled with silence as the two girls sat down in the sand. This was a sure signal to Elicia that the story was a long one.

"My father was the King of Spades." The Princess said flatly, lost in some other world. "Long before my time, the King of Hearts – the father of my late older siblings, and my mother's first husband – was killed. For years, my mother and my siblings – who all mysteriously died around the same time as each other – struggled to keep the throne in their control. Around that same time, my father's first wife, the Queen of Spades, suddenly fell ill and died.

"He promised my mother that he would stop all the riots and protests for her to give up her throne if she married him and had his child. She hastily agreed. Around a year later, I was born.

"In this world, aging is a slow and sometimes painful process. My body is sixteen, but my soul is around one-hundred."

"Holy crap!" Elicia exclaimed.

The Princess laughed her haunting laugh. "Yes, it is strange for you, I suppose."

"Your father…is he…dead?"

"Yes." The Princess looked straight out at the sea/ocean. "My mother said it was around the time I turned two. He was poisoned, and died. I never knew him. But considering he left behind his people for me to rule, he must've always been gone from my mother. She never seems grieved by it, and goes along as if nothing happened."

Elicia's face hardened. She had a feeling of what happened, and it seemed very much possible for both of the Queen of Hearts' spouses.

"You think the same as me." The Princess said suddenly. "I suspect the same. She killed them both, it's obvious. Maybe even my late siblings died by her hand, but that I could never believe considering that she's kept me alive all these years."

Elicia shrugged. "It was just a thought."

"Yes." The Princess smiled and stood up. She held out her hand to Elicia. "Lets go now, we promised my mother that we'd play croquet."

Elicia took the Princess's hand and stood up. "I've never played before."

"That's okay, I'll teach you as we go along."

"Good!"

As they were walking back to the garden, the Princess suddenly stopped. Elicia walked a few steps ahead before stopping and looking back. She stared at the suddenly sad looking Princess and asked:

"Are you okay?"

The Princess smiled. "You know, there is still something I need to tell you. To be honest, I want to call me something else besides 'Princess'."

"Okay. What?"

"Call me by my real name, the one given to me at birth: Alice."

…

**Bwahaha! Honestly, I hadn't intended for the Princess's real name to be Alice, I just thought that it would be interesting. But, now you must wait to see what happens when they play croquet! Bwahahaha!**


	6. A New Tyrant is Crowned

_Okay, yeah, it's been a while since I updated, I know, but I didn't have any inspiration until recently. Most of this chapter was inspired by the trailer for "Tim Burton's: Alice in Wonderland", so it might get a little dark. Just a warning._

…

"Alice?" Elicia asked, confused. "Your name is…Alice?"

Alice nodded. "Yes. Though my mother did not care for Alice Liddell too much, my father thought she was a courageous girl. I've been told that he wished for me to be the same way, and ascend to the throne a courageous girl."

"So that's why…?"

"Yes." Alice nodded once.

"Princess Alice!" A man said, jumping down from a wall of sand.

_I wonder how come it didn't fall… _Elicia thought, looking at the black-haired man strangely.

Said black-haired man bowed low once in front of the Princess. When he straightened out, he said, "Everything is ready, my liege, it is time."

"Very well, Barnes, thank you." Alice said, bowing her head slightly.

The man named Barnes turned to walk away, but stopped at the sight of Elicia. He reached for the hilt of what looked to be a sword. "Who are you?!"

Alice patted him on the shoulder. "Don't fret about her," she gestured to Elicia, "she's harmless."

"What if she's a spy for—"

"Her name is Elicia Liddell. She's the descendant of Alice Liddell. She would never spy for my mother."

He let go of the hilt. "Very well." He bowed slightly. "Elicia, do me a favor, if you are indeed Alice Liddell's descendant."

"Of course." Elicia nodded.

"Anything at all?"

"Yes."

Barnes pointed at Alice. "Protect my liege, Princess Alice. I'm not sure if this will work, but she seems pretty convinced. Can you do that?"

Elicia shrugged. "It depends. What are you doing?"

"Well—"

"That's enough, Barnes." Alice cut him off. "Elicia, you will learn shortly of why he asks this of you. Just remember, if my mother orders for heads to roll, we must run. My father's people **will **protect us, and Barnes is one of them."

Barnes nodded. "I am."

"But I don't understand. Why would we have to run?!" Elicia demanded.

Alice's eyes narrowed, (_I had no idea __**that **__was possible. _Elicia thought, in a little bit of shock). "I will ascend to the throne a more courageous Queen than any before me."

"Wait! You're going to a—"

"Yes." Alice responded before the other girl could finish. "It's the only way to stop my mother, she's a tyrant."

"Yes, and now, Princess Alice, Miss Elicia," Barnes bowed to both of the, "you must go, or everything will be ruined. You know how the Queen of Hearts hates us Spades on her land."

Alice faced him towards her and placed one hand on his cheek. "Yes, I know, Barnes, and we will leave posthaste. Believe me when I say that the first thing I will do is unify the two lands. Spades and Hearts will live as one people."

Barnes smiled at Alice softly, signaling to Elicia a romance.

_I'm caught in a romance?! Are you kidding me?!_

Alice faced Elicia. "Come now, Elicia, we must go."

Elicia stopped mentally freaking out and nodded. "Yes."

The two girls left, heading back to the garden and the croquet grounds. Upon arrived, Elicia noticed that everything was curiously just like in the book. The cards were doubled over – standing on their heads **and **feet – to make the arches. The croquet balls were live Hedgehogs, and the mallets were live Flamingos.

Elicia began to rub her temples. "This was one part that I had hoped wouldn't be the same…" She mumbled.

"Hmm?" Princess Alice looked at the confused girl. "Did you say something?"

"Uh…yeah. I forgot the point of the game." Elicia quickly lied.

Alice smiled. "Get the most points. To get points, you have to get the ball through the arches. It's simple, really."

"Okay then."

The two girls walked over and grabbed their own Flamingos. Alice's was blue, and Elicia's a typical pink. The Queen of Hearts faced the two girls – who were just barely on time – and said:

"Elicia, dear, why don't you go first?" The Queen smirked. "Surely, a friend of my daughter's can play."

Elicia nodded. "Okay, I will." She hesitantly walked over to where a brown Hedgehog was laying in a ball. Elicia had been hoping that someone else would go first, but decided to try to play like Alice Liddell had.

_Well, here goes nothing… _Elicia smacked the Hedgehog with the beak of the Flamingo.

The Hedgehog went quickly to the arches, but each and every card-arch deliberately moved so that she would miss. One, however just barely moved in the nick of time, making it seem like Elicia was going to make a point. Before the Queen could scream "OFF WITH HIS HEAD" though, he fortunately moved.

Elicia sighed in relief, she really didn't want more people to get beheaded. The Queen patted her on the shoulder and, scarily friendly, said:

"Tough luck, my dear." She then took her position and swung. Every card moved so that she would get all the points.

As everyone cheered for the Queen, Elicia turned to Alice. "What do they do for you?"

"The same as my mother." Alice said. "They allow me to the get enough points to where we have to face off at the end, then it's fair game the rest of the time." She shook her head. "When I'm Queen, the entire game will be a fair one."

"Well, I can't wait for that." Elicia mumbled.

Alice giggled. "By the way, that will be in a few short minutes."

Elicia nodded, she had figured it would be soon since they left Barnes at the beach.

"Princess, it's your turn!" The Queen said, turning around and making her way back over to them.

As Alice was standing and saying, "Yes, mother.", Barnes and three others – two were cards of the Spade suit – jumped down from a nearby tree and stabbed the Queen in the back multiple times. Everyone except for Elicia, Princess Alice, and the four who had stabbed the Queen gasped as the old lady fell dead to the ground.

Alice smirked and took the crown off her mother's head. "I am the Queen." She placed the crown on her head. "I will not be a tyrant like my mother, I swear! No one shall lose their head unless they have committed a crime to fit that punishment! This I swear to you, as the **Queen **of Hearts and Spades!"

Everyone cheered – mostly because heads wouldn't roll on an hourly basis – for their new Queen. It was obvious, though, that most didn't accept Alice yet, but they would. In time, they would accept her as their Queen.

Alice smiled, looking around at some of her new people. As she turned to face Barnes, she fell down, barely avoiding an arrow that lodged itself directly next to Elicia's leg.

"What the…?" Alice stood back up as Barnes and the three others surrounded her protectively.

Elicia ran over to the tree where the arrow came from, once getting past the shock of almost getting hit by said arrow, and climbed it. Once she was up it, her eyes widened at who she saw with the bow and another arrow in her hands.

"Mad Hatter Maiden?"

Mad Hatter Maiden looked over at the girl she had met only shortly before apologetically. "If I got you with that arrow, I am sorry." She notched the new arrow and prepared to fire it, but was knocked out of the tree as she let go of the string, causing the arrow to go lame and land just barely out of the tree.

"What're you doing?!" Elicia yelled.

"No, what are **you **doing?!" Mad Hatter Maiden yelled back.

"You tried to kill the Pri—the Queen!"

"I have to! Not only did she kill the woman I swore fealty to, but she also killed my, and March Bunny's mothers!"

Elicia stopped for a moment, confused. "Huh? The Queen of Hearts…was your mother?"

"No!" Mad Hatter Maiden shook her head. "Five years ago, me, March Bunny, and our mothers were having tea. We weren't harming anyone, nor were we planning to. Suddenly, the **Bitch **of Hearts and Spades came running in with ten Spade soldiers, claiming that our mothers helped to kill her father! March Bunny and I were forced to watch as the soldiers and that bitch killed them both.

"They left with the bodies, but left the blood on the floor for **us **to clean! For two years, we couldn't clean it up, and when we finally could…we lost our sanity. That's how we earned the title of 'mad'.

"Last year, when the Queen of Hearts began suspecting the Spades were to attempt to take her life, I swore fealty to her once I realized what good I could do. I wanted to be there to stop the Spades from committing another heinous act. But I was too late…" She pointed at Elicia. "The one you call 'Queen' is a tyrant in her own right! She took down her mother, and now she will kill anyone still loyal to the Queen of Hearts! She'll destroy anyone like me!"

"March Bunny.…she's still…" Elicia started.

"That's right. March Bunny…because of her state, my friend can do no good, nor can she do any bad. She never regained her sanity, and she never will. Forever, March Bunny will be locked in her house, silently having tea and wondering when I'll return." Mad Hatter Maiden pushed Elicia off her. "I won't die for this, but I can't return to my friend. Goodbye, Elicia Liddell."

"Yes, goodbye indeed." Queen Alice said, strolling up to where Elicia and Mad Hatter Maiden still sat on the ground.

Mad Hatter Maiden's eyes narrowed as she glared at the woman who killed her mother. "You!"

"You swore fealty to my mother, I remember that. But, if you swear fealty to me, I'll spare your life. I am no tyrant, as you have claimed I am."

"If you weren't a tyrant, you would have waited to ascend to the throne, like any other!" Mad Hatter Maiden yelled. "And you wouldn't have killed two innocent women!"

"Now, now, that's in the past." Alice shrugged. "I will offer once more. Swear fealty to m—"

Mad Hatter Maiden spit in Alice's face. "I'd rather die."

Alice quickly wiped to spit off her face. "Well, then. I will arrange that. Guards, seize her!" She smirked. "Looks like a head will roll this day."

Elicia watched as Mad Hatter Maiden was taken away. She hesitantly stood up when the Queen told her to watch as someone who deserves it receives the proper punishment.

"Alice," Elicia finally said once they reached the croquet ground again, "is this necessary? After all, she **is **mad."

"That's exactly why she needs to die." Alice faced Elicia. "No assassin is more dangerous than one that is mad."

Elicia sighed and nodded. She didn't exactly agree with what was happening, but an assassin is an assassin, regardless of their mental state. That, she did agree with.

A while later, as Elicia and Alice were talking, Mad Hatter Maiden was brought back out. This time, she had no hat on, but a red cloak with a hood that covered her face. Her hands were not visible, seeing as they were tied behind her back. One of the cards, an eight of Spades, walked up to the Queen with a Rapier. He knelt down and handed it to her.

"Thank you, eight." Alice said, standing up.

"It is my pleasure, your majesty." He replied quickly.

Alice walked past him and stopped and few steps away. "Oh yes, eight, there is something I must speak with you about right now."

Without turning around, he gulped. "Yes, your majesty?"

Alice quickly whipped around and cut eight in half with the Rapier. It was as easy as cutting through butter, seeing as he was only paper. "That was for letting an assassin's arrow so near me and my friend."

Elicia gasped, her mind was beginning to tell her that Mad Hatter Maiden was right, that Alice was a tyrant. The Queen turned back around and laughed as Mad Hatter Maiden was turned around to face away from her. Alice turned and crossed her arm that held the Rapier across her body, swinging across and through Mad Hatter Maiden's neck as she screamed:

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!!!"

Elicia let out just the softest scream of terror as Mad Hatter Maiden dropped dead to the ground. The man from earlier, Barnes, walked up to Queen Alice and started talking softly, sweetly to her. She responded by talking in the same matter. The two kissed briefly, cut off as Elicia shouted:

"Why did you do that?!"

Alice faced Elicia. "We're in love, why else?"

"You just…killed Mad Hatter Maiden, and then kissed him?! What's wrong with you?!"

"Nothing." Alice shrugged as she rested the blade of the Rapier on her shoulder. "You should not worry about any of this, my friend, it simply wouldn't do. Oh, Barnes, remember to order your soldiers to go after March Bunny. We can't have that one following her friend's footsteps."

Barnes bowed. "My wish is your command, Queen Alice."

"March Bunny?!" Elicia exclaimed. "I've met her, she's harmless! She's just a harmless, carefree girl!"

Alice sighed and looked back at Elicia as Barnes left. "You test my patience, Elicia Liddell. I may claim you to be my friend, but friend or not, you may not contest my orders."

"I do not contest them, otherwise I would stop those soldiers! I'm just questioning why—"

"Do **not **question me! I do this for the sake of this land! I do this for the sake of Wonderland!"

"This is not—"

A familiar laughing cut off Elicia. "Now, now, it's not good to lie, 'my Queen'." The Cheshire Cat faded into the room, in between Elicia and Alice.

"The Cheshire Cat?!"

"You!" Alice swung the tip of the Rapier down to strike the cat dead, but missed as he faded to another place.

"Why do you try to kill me?" The Cheshire Cat questioned.

"You would disrupt this land. I must destroy you."

"I would not disrupt anything. Besides," he gestured to Elicia, "the descendant of Alice Liddell – Elicia Liddell – is the true Queen."

"**What**?!" Alice screamed.

"E-Excuse me?" Elicia asked, surprised. "There's no way I'm the Queen. Queen Alice is the only child of the Queen of Hearts."

"The Queen of Hearts was no fool. A tyrant though she was, she was not going to entrust a murderer to rule Wonderland after her passing." The Cheshire Cat laughed. "Not only did Alice kill Mad Hatter Maiden, her mother, and the mother of March Bunny, but she also killed all her siblings in order to ascend to the throne of both kingdoms."

"What?" Elicia looked at Alice. "You said you were little when they died."

Alice smirked. "I was ten years old when I killed them. A year later was when I killed others who would get in the way. The excuse that those two women helped kill my father was a cover up. I knew my mother had killed him, but I didn't care. It was…easier that way."

Elicia shook her head. "No. I can't be Queen. Alice already is to begin with."

"Yes, but the Queen of Hearts' will specifically says that the descendant of Alice Liddell shall rule Wonderland at her passing." The Cheshire Cat began to fade. "Elicia Liddell, you are the rightful Queen. And those who heard those words will follow **you**, not her."

Once the Cheshire Cat was gone, Elicia began to shake with fear. Alice was glaring at her, murderous intent shining in her malevolent cat-green eyes. She ran at Elicia, clearly having forgotten their friendship. She was power-hungry, and she wanted the throne.

Alice raised the Rapier as she neared. "DIE!"

…

_Hehe… Sorry about the cliffy, and the dark turn this story suddenly took. But I think the next chapter will be the last. If not, I will make a sequel to this story – about what, I'm not entirely sure yet. Anyways, please review. All who do get a cookie!_


	7. Home at Last

_**Sorry this chapter is so short, but I really didn't have any other ideas for it. Sorry!**_

…

Elicia moved to the right at the last moment, falling down to the ground. She rolled out of the way as Alice tried stabbing her with the Rapier. Subsequently, the Rapier became stuck in the ground. While Alice fought to remove the sword, Elicia ran as fast as she could away from the croquet grounds.

Once she was convinced that she was far enough away, Elicia stopped and leaned against a tree to catch her breath. _This is insane. I don't even want to be Queen, so Queen Alice shouldn't feel the need to kill me._

Elicia turned and continued walking. _So what if my name was in the Queen of Hearts' will. I don't want to be a ruler. I just wanted to see this place with my own eyes, to confirm it's real. I didn't want to be in a one-sided fight for a crown!_

"Oh my," the Cheshire Cat faded onto a nearby branch, "running away from destiny will get you nowhere."

Elicia stopped and glared at the cat. "Just shut up! I almost got killed thanks to you!"

"You must defeat that murderer and claim the throne."

"I'm not claiming anything! I don't want it! I just want to go home now! So point me in the right direction, you damn cat!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The Cheshire Cat shook its head and faded away. "What kind of manner are those?"

Elicia sighed in frustration and just continued walking forward. She was convinced that there was an exit somewhere. And she wasn't going to stop until she found it.

Unfortunately, that meant for Elicia that she would both have to walk a long distance, and avoid everyone. If news traveled fast here, then most everyone probably knew about her supposed to be the new Queen. If the Queen of Hearts and Spades ordered her dead on sight, then Elicia would have to avoid asking for help.

"There you are!"

Elicia whipped around and saw Alice standing there with the same wicked smile. Elicia backed up a few steps. "How did you—"

"Don't forget where you are." Alice laughed hauntingly.

Elicia turned and ran. She had no fighting skills whatsoever, and the thought of dying over something she didn't want wasn't something she found pleasant at all. So, she just continued running until she came upon a well in the ground. It was so wide that Elicia would never make it if she jumped, and it was impossible to see the bottom.

"Oh, I see you've stopped." Alice laughed.

Elicia turned back around and started breathing heavily. She was out of breath, and she was scared. She didn't want to die. "Please, Alice, listen. I don't want to throne, you can have it."

"Wills cannot be contested." Alice sighed. "Unless there is a death or disappearance. In which case, you will be dying." She lunged forward to once again attempt to stab Elicia, but Elicia tried to take a step back, falling into the well.

Alice stopped and watched until Elicia was out of sight. She smirked and turned around, walking back to her place feeling fulfilled.

…

Meanwhile, Elicia was screaming as she fell farther and farther into the well. She had already lost sight of the sky, and it didn't seem like she was slowing down like she had hoped she would.

_This isn't like when I came here! I'm really going to die! _Elicia screamed in her head. _Help, somebody! Amanda, Megan, please save me! Mom, somebody!_

The sound of air passing her head as she fell deeper and deeper into the darkness didn't help at all. Elicia felt like vomiting and crying at the same time. But never more so than when she sensed the end of her fall nearing…and she wasn't slowing down.

Goodbye…

Thirty seconds later, Elicia hit the bottom of the well. She felt every bone in her body break almost simultaneously as her neck snapped and her skull split open. Not even a moment after the pain began surging through her body, Elicia saw a white light and moved towards it.

…

"Elicia! Elicia, are you awake?!"

Elicia groaned when she heard the familiar voice. "Amanda?" She asked with a scratchy voice.

Amanda grabbed her sister's hand and sighed in relief. "I was hoping that you were okay!"

"Where am I?"

Amanda looked at Elicia's tired, glazed over eyes and smiled. "You're at the hospital. You fell down an old well under our tree and nearly died."

"How long…have I been out?"

"It's February the tenth."

Elicia's eyes widened as much as possible. "There's no way. It's not possible. I could've been out that long. I was only there for a day."

"Where?" Amanda's curiosity peaked.

"Wonderland."

Amanda released her sister's hand. "It seems like…the reason you were missing for so long before we found you was because you blatantly disobeyed us. You found the rabbit's hole that lead to that world." She sighed. "You say that you were there a day?"

Elicia nodded without straining her neck. "Yes."

"You were missing for over three weeks before we found you. You've been in a coma ever since. The doctors weren't sure if you'd recover."

Elicia shut her eyes again. "Amanda…I'm sorry for disobeying you, Megan, and mom."

"Don't worry. We're just glad you're okay."

"I'll forget about Wonderland." Elicia said adamantly. "It's not the fairy-tale world that Lewis Carroll wrote about, it's a dark and disturbed land. With the Queen of Hearts murdered by her own daughter, the Pri—the Queen of Hearts and Spades."

Amanda smiled a little. "You wanna tell me about it?"

"No." Elicia felt herself drifting to sleep. "I just wanna forget." With that last comment, Elicia drifted to sleep.

…

_To be Continued…_

_Queen Elicia:_

"_Running away from destiny will get you nowhere." What the Cheshire Cat said was true… Elicia Liddell is now 30-years-old and is engaged to a man she met during college. She has forgotten all about Wonderland, and absolutely refuses to pick up anything related to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". She seems to be living a pretty happy, normal life…but, her life is about to become anything but normal. The White Rabbit appears to her again and pleads for Elicia to take her place as Queen of Wonderland, ultimately killing the Queen of Hearts and Spades. She tried running from her destiny once, can she really do it again?_


End file.
